Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Spelling apps

DS couldn't stand the repetition of reading eggs. I realised how much he could read when he played on it a few times 18 months ago but he gave it away fairly quickly.

There's a Bob Books app (or two) that are better than the books. The pages start out black and white, but as you spell the words for items on the page, they get colored in. There are settings to change the difficulty. I think in the first setting you can drag and drop letters in any order. In the second setting, you have to go from left to right. In the third setting, the letters no longer appear at the target location. It's phonics based, so I don't think the letter names are ever used.

On the downside, the app samples all the stories, pulling a page from here and a page from there... so the app itself doesn't tell a story.

I wish starfall would port the "learn to read" section of the website, instead of just the alphabet part.

There are some Free interactive resources/games for learning to read/spell:

http://www.readwritethink.org/search/?grade=7&resource_type=72
- construct- a- word and other tools might work. There's a lot of stuff on this site for learning to read or write. Kids can create their own picture dictionary, which I think you can save or print. This is a site worth remembering!

http://www.e-learningforkids.org/index.html - has some interactive tools on word recognition and putting words together and reading/spelling.

http://www.abcya.com/kindergarten_computers.htm - has some spelling practice and storybook narration.

PBS Kids (http://pbskids.org/) - has some guided reading/spelling - especially with SuperWhy, WordWorld, and Between the Lions. My son was a fan of SuperWhy and WordWorld.

This site has free guided reading like Starfall, but you need to register first - http://www.literactive.com/Home/index.asp

This is a phonics chart in color and with audio - http://www.foniks.org/ - it's aimed at older ESL learners but I have used it with my son.

There's a new phonics, guided reading, video based program with the non-profit KnowWatchLearn - http://www.readingbear.org/

Thanks everyone! Now I just need time to look/ install...

BOB books on ipad/iphone

Just installed the Bob books app and realised I already had the Monti one, which I had tucked away somewhere when it was too advanced for the little one and way below the middle one.

Any Android ones? Please?